Mr. Lipping is a passionate and energetic teacher who has been in Hayward High School for about 22 years. He currently teaches AP Government, AP Macroeconomics, and AVID 9, as he’s known around campus for his humor, honesty, and unique teaching style—complete with Nerf guns.

But his journey into teaching didn’t start out easy. “When I was young, I kind of struggled, and I didn’t have a lot of positive role models in my life,” he said. That changed in 11th and 12th grade when he met his English teacher, Mrs. Cassey. “She was actually the first grown-up that made me believe in myself and told me that I could be somebody,” he shared. “There’s a longer story, but that really stuck with me. She impacted me in such a positive way that I kind of knew after that I wanted to do the same for other people who were in the same situation I was.”

Now, he’s the one making an impact on students as he’s doing it his way. “One of my teaching philosophies is that students need to kind of enjoy the class if they’re going to pay attention and learn,” he explained. “I actually go out of my way to try to entertain as much as I teach. I’ve got jokes, I talk about people. I’ve got like 15 different Nerf guns that I shoot at people with and stuff like that.”

One of Mr. Lipping’s goal  is to build a positive community in the classroom. “If kids like coming to your class, then they’re gonna do better.”

Like many teachers today, he faces challenges especially with phones. “It’s a constant barrage of instant gratification, so it’s a lot harder to keep people engaged for a long period of time, which is necessary because I teach two AP classes.” Mr. Lipping is also seeing new challenges with AI, but instead of avoiding it, he’s finding ways to use it. “That’s one of the reasons I try to entertain when I teach. I am overcoming that by—if you can’t beat it, join it.” This year, he and a few other AP teachers have been working closely to find ways to use AI in a helpful way for both teachers and students.

He believes strongly in college, not just for future success, but for learning itself. “Since I teach AP classes and AVID, I’m all about going to college,” Mr. Lipping said. “I believe in education for the sake of education. I’m always wearing college gear, and if you look at my room, I work hard to develop a college-going culture. I can only impact what happens in my classroom, but my classes are popular, and hopefully that culture spreads.”

He also hopes students remember the importance of paying attention, staying involved in voting, and understanding what’s going on in the world. “I teach government, and government is crazy right now,” he said. “We’re heading to a very bad situation in this country, and I think the only way we can save ourselves is to become more educated and informed, and to make our voices heard.”

What keeps him motivated?

It’s the students.

“I like the kids. Coming in every day, interacting with them, telling jokes—that makes me like coming to work and like what I do,” he said.

For Mr. Lipping, building real relationships is key. He believes in being entertaining, honest, and authentic. “I think I have a reputation for being very real,” he said. “I speak the truth as I see it, and not a lot of teachers are blunt and honest about certain things.”

“Last year I passed 125 out of 139 kids on the AP exam—which is stunningly really good. “

Written By: Atasha Mazon (Journalism Staff)